How to Make a Zebra Print Cake Using Regular Icing

Many preschool and school-age children are crazy about animals, and a zebra birthday cake may be the one design that will make the party perfect. This jungle-themed treat takes a little bit longer to make than a conventional cake but is simple enough for a basic home baker to successfully complete in less than an afternoon.

(Melissa Kirk/Demand Media)

Things You'll Need

Commercial cake mix

Baking pans

Commercial icing

Wilton food coloring dyes

Picture of zebra

Small flat broad knife

Step 1

Bake your commercial cake mix according to package directions. You can use any flavor cake desired. Remove the cake from the pan when done, and let it cool on a wire rack.

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Step 2

Frost the cake with white icing when it is completely cooled. Use the flat knife, and make the frosting on the cake as smooth and free from lines as possible.

Melissa Kirk/Demand Media

Step 3

Mix your black frosting in one of two ways. Use Wilton's black food coloring paste mixed with a portion of the white frosting previously used to frost the cake. Alternatively, mix blue food coloring with dark chocolate frosting. Either method should give you a nice dark black icing.

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Step 4

Use the picture of a zebra to give you an idea of what the stripes should look like. Carefully smooth the black icing on top of the white, keeping the edges as clean as possible. Vary the lines in thickness and direction for more authenticity.

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Tips & Warnings

If you don't have a very steady hand, put the black icing into a pastry bag or a plastic bag with the corner snipped off. This will help to keep the frosting where you want it.

Black frosting can stain, so don't use your good linens around this cake.